Postmodernism Essay

“Postmodern media manipulates time and space”. To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?

An example of time manipulation is within the film Inception. The concept that Christopher Nolan wanted to create was a plot of a dream within a dream. The idea that the real world slows down when out of the dream state, and whilst in the dream state time speeds up and becomes seconds. This disturbs the idea of time and space, disrupting the ‘linear structure’.  Edith Piaf’s song ‘je ne regrette rien’ is played in the background of a dream to perform as what is known as the ‘kick’.  When this is played the characters will wake up. The song is often slowed down when the characters are deeper within the dream layers, so the audience feel part of the dream, and they can differentiate the dream state. The word Inception means to place an idea into somebody’s head, and Nolan does this by making the audience question whether or not they are in a dream state. This could question their existence, which is an example of hyper-reality; we may not be able to differentiate the difference. This links with Jacques Derrida’s theory that; “The centre doesn’t exist naturally, but rather because we need it, in order to make sense of the world around us”. We see in the film that the young architect is taken into a shared dream with Cobb, and she changes parts of the sub-conscience world in order to suit her needs, for example making a bridge to make it easy for her to get from one place of the dream to a next. The mirror scene is also quite significant, as she pulls the mirror towards her, showing the reflection of her and Cobb relating back to Inception of the dream within a dream idea.

In terms of Quentin Tarantino’s film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ it differs from traditional war films by removing aspects of tradition and fear, thereby replacing some sections with humour and a comical feel. I feel that some sections of the film could be seen as a pastiche type genre, then again could be seen as homage. The characters were made to look and sound very stereotypical, the English and the American accents in particular. Hitler was dressed in his finest robes that he would have only worn on special occasions, presented in the portrait of himself shown in the film. Hitler is also played to be killed by Americans, however we know that this is not the case, as he committed suicide. Tarantino is pursuing his idea of a fantasy, however he is adamant on not pretending the film to be perceived as real. This is the idea that the audience and people who were not around in the time period thought he looked on a daily basis. The scenes in Inglorious Basterds begin with a chapter, which is presented in different font styles. It creates a new narrative, with the font style matching up to the genre and the setting of the next scene to be. In addition to the on screen text used the colour of the font used is not necessarily conventional; it is used to identify some of the characters; such as Hitler. This could relate to the fact that Tarantino is portraying a fantasy-type film where it reminds the audience that it isn’t real. Time is not necessarily an issue within Inglorious Basterds, as Tarantino uses a David Bowie song, which was released years after the film was set. This is an unusual convention in a war film; as most war films want to attempt to create realistic approach to filming. However after reflecting upon films such as Saving Private Ryan, this film is just as realistic as Inglorious Basterds. It is almost impossible to recreate history accurately.  It is a film inspired by war not a recreation of the war. It relates to Frederick Jameson’s theory of ‘historical deafness’, some things are usually taken out of context and therefore lack the original meaning. Tarantino likes to make masterpieces that draw attention to himself, not necessarily to create accurate historical references.  I have noticed that the characters presented within Inglorious Basterds are very polished and their aesthetics are not affect. They seem to look clean, whereas in reality we know that this is not realistic, and relates back to the hyper-reality of this film being a fantasy.

Consequently if time and space is manipulated from slightly altering original material, this creates a post-modern structure. I agree with the statement as inspiration from older material is good, but the new material will be more developed. Though in some cases it could be argued that directors/artists etc. are becoming less original and soon ideas will run out, causing postmodernism to fall and will be no more.